ION CLUB Windsurfing Hacks - Footstraps - Size, Position, Technique

Footsraps! All Windsurfers need them, all Windsurfers use them. They prevent our feet from slipping over the deck, enable us to deal with more sail power, help us to control the board in high speeds, make carving easy and open the door for jumping with our Windsurfing gear.
In this ION CLUB Goodie, we like to give a bit of credit to this essential part of equipment, help you to understand a bit more about them and to trim your gear better.
Let´s begin with something easy, the size of your straps. To put simple, they should be tight enough to hold your feed firmly in place but not so tight to make your feed stuck in a crash. As a standard setting, we recommend to set them in a way so all your toes are clearly visible. If you´re little toe is hidden underneath the straps, they´re too tight.
Wave surfers and Freestylers however often prefer an even wider strap set up, while racers often tighten them even more. If you´re wearing shoes, the rubber edge and soles of your surfshoes are more likely to get stuck in a crash, so make sure to set your straps rather loose.
Another important factor is the width of your straps. Ideally you not just want to have support vertically, but also horizontally. You can change the width by using different insert positions on the deck.
Finally, we should talk about the correct position on the deck. A relaxed ride is only possible if the position of your footstraps actually fits to what you want to do with the board.
Freeride boards feature a very wide range of use and therefore provide you with lots of different options and inserts. Boards with a very specific range of use, such as freestyle boards for example, only have very limited or no options at all to change the position on the deck.
Having the footstraps rather in the center of your board will support a more upright body position while sailing. Which in turn, will make carving and popping the board out of the water a lot easier. Furthermore, applying pressure rather vertically on the fin than horizontally will help reducing spin outs and therefore is a good set up for riders who just started to use footstraps.
An outboard footstrap position instead, is ideal for going fast. It supports a more leaned out body position, which enables you to deal with more sail power. In addition, in high speeds the fin will produce a lot of lift, which elevates the windward rail of your board out of the water. In order to maintain control of your board in that situation, you need to be able to apply a lot of pressure on the windward rail, preventing your board from capsizing.
If you ever had the problem that your heels were sliding through the water while sailing the reason is not so much the size of your feet, but rather the speed of your board. Or in other words, you´re sailing too slow, for the footstrap position you choose.
Instead, if you feel a lot of tension in your leg muscles and find yourself having to pull up your toes a lot while sailing, most likely you´re going too fast for the footstrap position you choose.
We hope this tutorial helps you to enjoy Windsurfing even more.
Whenever you´re in doubt of your footstrap position or have the feeling that your ride is not as relaxed as it should be, make sure to talk to one of our ION CLUB Instructors.
Sometimes it’s the little things, which have the biggest impact!
See you on the water!
Your ION CLUB Instructor Team